Sasktel Investigating International Scam Calls

There has been a recent increase in the amount of scam calls originating from international locations and, SaskTel has alerted the public to share that they are actively working to block as many of these calls as possible.

If you receive an unexpected call from another country, they advise you to ignore the call and do not call the number back. If you do answer the call, hang up immediately.* If you call the international phone number, long distance charges may apply.

These types of calls are truly a national issue, impacting people and communications providers all across the country. The majority of nuisance calls, including scams, are generated by computer-dialers that enable spammers to dial many numbers at once. SaskTel is taking active steps to block these spam calls and will continue to monitor this situation. They also continue to work with the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) and others in our industry to implement solutions to combat this problem.

Scam calls like these can be reported to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre (CAFC) on their website or by phone at 1-888-495-8501. Additionally, if you think you were the victim of a crime as a result of a scam call, you should contact the RCMP or your local police service.

Most cell phones have built in features that can help to prevent some types of scam calls, or alternatively there are applications that can be downloaded to help with this.

*SaskTel has stated that if your plan has a limited number of airtime minutes and you’re out of minutes, airtime charges will apply if you answer the call.